Various versions of floor mops are commonly available for the variety of cleaning needs in both commercial and domestic consumer environments. For example, cotton string floor dust mops are commonly seen cleaning the dust and debris from school and public building hallways. One problem with such cotton string dust mops is that the dirt and debris can build up in the cotton substrate. Such mop heads need to be regularly cleaned or replaced. Cleaning or replacing the substrate can be cumbersome and may result in significant added cost to the user.
Smaller versions of such dust mops are readily available for consumer home use and utilize disposable cleaning substrates that are applied to the mop head. The disposable cleaning substrate is most commonly wrapped across the floor-contacting surface of such mop heads and both of the substrate's free ends are clamped, grasped or otherwise attached to the upper surface of the mop head. Such disposable substrates also need to be regularly replaced as the substrate become soiled in use, however the substrate is easier to replace than the cotton string substrate of commercial dust mops.
A problem with such consumer dust mops that use disposable cleaning substrates is an inefficiency in the use of such disposable substrates. First, the substrate surface that comes into contact with the floor is the only surface that is used for cleaning; the sections of the substrate that are wrapped over the top surface of the mop head to hold the substrate in place are not used in cleaning. Secondly, the design of most available consumer dust mops have a flat bottom surface that the substrate is held against. Such a design results in more dust and debris being collected along the front edge of the substrate rather than utilizing the entire substrate surface. Finally, such substrates need to be replaced after this relatively small effective cleaning area of substrate becomes soiled.
Some have tried to address the inefficiency of the disposable cleaning substrate by utilizing a reversible mop head design. Such reversible designs use a disposable cleaning substrate on both the top and bottom surfaces of the dust mop such that the mop head can be flipped over to either side for cleaning. The use of a reversible design increases the amount of time that such a dust mop can be used in comparison to the single-sided dust mop discussed above. However, such mops still have the issues of substrate surface that is wasted to fastening the substrate to the mop and inefficient substrate use due to a flat head design, as described above.
Additionally, the design of such reversible dust mops may have their own unique problems. Designs that include a handle mount in the center of the head require a cutout in the head and in the substrate to allow the head to be flipped over. Such cutout area can then not effectively be used for supporting the cleaning substrate. One solution to such a problem has been the use of a head mount that connects the handle to the end of the mop head such that the handle is in a cantilevered position, similar in configuration to that of a traditional paint roller head and handle. However, such a cantilevered design does not have the mop control of a traditional floor dust mop where the handle is mounted in the center of the mop head; in use, such a head mount can flex with force applied to the handle and make control of the mop head difficult.
Secondly, while such designs provide a partial solution to the issue of substrate wasted to fastening the substrate to the mop head, they present their own unique challenge as to how to fasten such a substrate to the reversible head.